OLIVE, MONTH 4.

My little Olive Bird,

You're four months old!  And 16 pounds!  And every bit of you is delicious.  We have been in the middle of some serious life changing times, and sometimes life feels so chaotic and scary that I'm afraid I will miss your tiny little moments.  But then I'm reminded that I am so lucky to get to be home with you - that it's my privilege to do the everyday with you.  I may not be writing down your every giggle, but I can promise you that I am witnessing you grow every day, and I am loving you through every bit of the process.  You have fit into our family like the perfect piece.  You've been coming into your own, and getting a bit of a routine - and every day around 4:30 you wait for your daddy's chest to lay on for an afternoon nap.  You laugh, and you are trying to roll over.  You're super content, a happy baby, who is taking everything in with a quiet confidence.  You've discovered your voice in a big way this month, and have been experimenting with all the different octaves.  It's quite hilarious.  You are still a complete and total Mama's girl, and I soak up every minute of it.

The moments you have with your sister are so precious, and hilarious!  Daddy and I often joke that we don't even need outside entertainment anymore, we can watch your sister perform death defying acts just to see you giggle "one last time".  No one makes you laugh like she does.  She adores you Olive, and has taken to calling you "Booshka-Toot".  It kinda stuck (sorry about that).

The other day I was feeling down and overwhelmed due to the reality that I don't have the time to give to you that I had with your sister.  I felt panicked that I was missing something, or that you weren't getting all that you deserved.  But then your sister came out of her room and walked over to you and said  (in her sing-song voice that always makes you smile), "HI OLIVE!  Let Sissy hold you!  Hi Booshka-Toot!  Vivi loves YOU!"  And you lit up in a way I could never make you light up.  I felt so content I couldn't even speak.  It dawned on me right there that you don't have everything she had.  You have more.  You have her.  And that is the best gift we could ever give you.

We adore you our sweet Olive Jane.  Keep growing strong.

Love,
Mama

MOMENTS CAUGHT ON INSTAGRAM.

This little girl has grown up so much.

Sisters. 

Baby O, as we've taken to calling her.

Olive putting up with my (dirty) mirror shots. 

She's been learning to swim.

Donkey. 

Car sick trooper.

I shamelessly match them, any chance I get.

Mother and daughter photographers.

Pimple disguise.

Speaks for itself.

V doing what she does best - tinkering and crafting the morning away.

Setting up an animal school.

Looking back on these moments is always bittersweet.  I love these two so much.  They really are my whole life (quite literally these days) and I wouldn't change it for a second.  I know I'll look back one day and miss this manic period of my life.  (I'm not there right now, but I'm told I will be.)  Things are hard most of the time right now.  (And tiring, and stressful, and scary, and utterly beautiful.)  BUT, these two are mine, and right along side all the other stuff -- I walk around feeling so damn lucky every single time I look at my children.